The tensions at the very top of the English game have been laid bare. Fabio Capello is due back at his desk on Monday, though any hopes the Italian may have had in keeping his visit brief before heading for Merseyside to scrutinise Steven Gerrard's form and fitness may have been dashed by the few succinct words he afforded Rai 1 on Sunday night. David Bernstein, the Football Association's chairman, will be seeking a meeting.

By publicly voicing his disapproval at his employers' decision to remove John Terry from the captaincy, a move taken out of his hands, Capello has risked critically undermining England's preparations for the summer's European Championships in a manner potentially far more serious than his ill-advised commercial online venture the "Capello Index" ever did back in 2010.

The Italian was known to be frustrated at seeing his favoured leader deposed while Terry awaits trial for a racially aggravated public order offence allegedly made in an altercation with the Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand last October. Terry has strenuously denied wrongdoing.

The matter will not go to court until 9 July and it was most likely the 65-year-old's exasperation, rather than any great desire to pick a fight, that prompted his comments. He merely responded honestly. Did he agree with the FA's decision on Terry? "No, absolutely not. I thought it was right that Terry should keep the captain's armband."

Yet by pledging his support for Terry he has ensured any aspiration the FA had of bundling the controversy out of the spotlight until after the finals has been lost. A captain will be appointed for the friendlies against Holland, Norway and Belgium, and for Euro 2012 beyond.

It may even be Gerrard, who had stood in for the injured Rio Ferdinand at the 2010 World Cup and would seem the natural choice if fit. But how could a senior figure such as the Liverpool midfielder now take the armband knowing full well that Terry, who remains available for selection, is actually the manager's first choice? He would be undermined from the outset.

For Ferdinand, booed incessantly and mystifyingly by sections of the Chelsea support at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, the scenario is even more stark – so much so that, even if he excels for Manchester United from now until May, the prospect of competing at the finals in Ukraine and Poland must increasingly feel like a pipe-dream. The centre-half had already been compelled to admit publicly that he would not consider accepting the armband for a second time himself, Capello having stripped him so clumsily of the honour last season.

Now he knows that the national coach would have had Terry retain the brief even while awaiting trial for allegedly racially abusing his younger brother. If the Chelsea player is picked for future squads while the legal issue remains unresolved, Ferdinand would surely be forgiven for feeling he cannot make himself available. In some ways the decision to sack the accused but permit his selection as merely a player feels even more exposed as a fudge and England may suffer all the more as a result.

Terry, of course, remains innocent until proved guilty and he, himself, had been left livid by the FA board's stance. That, itself, might have provoked Capello to offer encouragement to the 31-year-old that he remains a key part of his plans for the tournament – England perhaps are not blessed as they once were with depth at centre-half – having been concerned that he would walk away from the international stage. The player's camp have officially yet to make a decision over Terry's future with the national team in the wake of last Friday's disappointment, confirmed as it was in a telephone call from Bernstein, even if it seems unlikely that he would ever decide to quit.

The only certainty now is that England will head into a summer tournament with the manager and chairman at loggerheads. Terry will be a foot soldier, as he was in South Africa, but whoever leads the team into battle will not retain the manager's complete faith. Two years ago Capello had removed the Chelsea defender from the captaincy having lost patience with a series of off-field controversies – culminating in the player's alleged affair with Wayne Bridge's ex-partner – which he felt were disrupting the dressing room. Now he appears to be using Terry's captaincy as an issue which could make or break the final few months of his tenure.